Apple to work closely with Indian startups

BANGALORE: Apple is likely to announce an accelerator program for Indian startups as part of its CEO Tim Cook’s visit to India this week, two people familiar with the development told ET NOW.

The sources, who declined to be quoted, said while Tim Cook's key push with Indian government officials will be the sale of refurbished Apple phones here, its initiatives for startups and digital India will also be part of the agenda.

Reuters reported on Monday afternoon that Cook will visit India this week and meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While sources ET NOW spoke to confirmed his visit, they also shared details of Cook’s likely itinerary in India. An Apple spokesperson said the company will not be sharing any details of Cook’s India visit.

One of the persons ET NOW spoke to said Cook will cover Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad as part of his visit. While he is expected to meet RIL executives in Mumbai, he will be in Hyderabad to firm up plans for its development centre.

His meetings with policy makers in New Delhi will center on the govt’s recent move to turn down Apple’s request to sell used phones here. "While refurbished phones will be a major talking point, Apple will also announce initiatives tied to Startup India and Digital India. An accelerator or incubator program for startups in India is likely," the other person said.

Cook’s visit comes weeks after he spoke about India's potential in the recent Apple earnings call. He has stated that he views India as where China was 7 to 10 years back and that it’s a great opportunity. But, he had also highlighted challenges around connectivity.

"And from an India point of view, if you look at India, and each country has a different story a bit, but the things that have held not only us back perhaps but some others as well is that the LTE rollout with India just really began this year, and so we'll begin to see some really good networks coming on in India," Cook told analysts.

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